The Elite
by iamwildatheart
Summary: A new era known as the Golden Peace Years have been created and maintained by the Allied Shinōbi Forces after the Fourth Great Shinōbi War. With the peace, the shinōbi profession demand has significantly dwindled, leaving only a small legacy to uphold their predecessors. For this reason, rose the Elite: specialized shinōbi with war seasoned skills trained during peace time.
1. Prologue: A Fast Break

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
><strong>Author:<strong> iamwildatheart  
><strong>AN:** On a whim, I couldn't help but write this loosely thought up story. Be warn that updates will be sparse if I ever do update.

* * *

><p><strong>The Elite<br>**_Prologue_  
>A Fast Break<p>

* * *

><p>She was running. Or trying to, at least.<p>

Her lungs were quickly filling up with fluid, most likely from the stab wound. A large chuck of flesh from her left hip was missing when they managed to slap a explosion note there. And she was cradling her right arm as best as she could because she was pretty sure her arm was not suppose to be able to bend that way.

The pain was excruciating and she did not know how much longer she could stay conscious.

Any minute now, they would catch up to her. Which meant time was running out. Her window of escape was quickly closing and she refused to be dragged back to that wretched base where she would—

Suddenly, the tree to her right exploded.

She felt herself collide with the hard ground and pain unimaginable filled up her right shoulder. All that could be seen was red as a loud ringing took to her ear. A few seconds later when she manage to make sense of anything she was seeing, a charred arm laid sprawled across the ground from her. It was only when she recognized the familiar leaf ring on the finger did she realized that _that was her broken arm_.

Despite all the resilience training she had, hysteria bubbled in her throat as she tried to scream. Instead, she gargled the blood and bile that rose in her throat. Quickly, she rolled to her side and emptied whatever that was left of her pitiful stomach.

Tears blurred her eyes as she struggled to stand using her remaining limbs. Pain seared through her in every way imaginable.

And still she trudged on and took to the trees.

Her hysteria had not lessened by any bit after seeing her limb detached from her body. In fact, all she really wanted to do was curl into a ball and puke some more. But dying was more frightening to her than the risk to wallow in self pity and lose the lead she had on her powerful enemies.

In an effort to clear her mind, she summoned the majority of all the chakra she had left and concentrated it in her core. Whatever that was left of her chakra was being channeled into her feet to quicken her steps.

She was close to her destination. Only a two more kilometers and she would make it. The emergency transport post to her village was an instantaneous seal that could be activated if a recognizable chakra was applied. And she would be home. She would make it.

A minute passed and it was unreal how close she was. She could see the complex seal hidden carefully under bush. A few more seconds and all she had to do was touch it with a tiny bit of her chakra and she—

A kunai grazed her cheek.

"You're quite the resilient brat, aren't you."

Unfortunately, in the last 50 meters left before reaching the post, they had finally caught up.


	2. Chapter One: Peace Time

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
><strong>Author:<strong> iamwildatheart  
><strong>AN:** This first chapter is to set the world The Elite is placed in, so there won't be much plot. Though very similar to the original Naruto-verse, the shinōbi regulations of this world is different. Killing, murder, etc will be the expected norm. What one might realistically expect trained killers to do. Sorry in advance.

* * *

><p><strong>The Elite<br>**_Chapter One_  
>Peace Time<p>

* * *

><p>A calm had settled over all the shinōbi nations after the Fourth Great Shinōbi War.<p>

Construction was initiated immediately. With Madara's and the Akatsuki's mass destruction over the main lands, most villages and towns were damaged or completely destroyed.

As a result, the majority of missions post-war were directed towards rebuilding and enhancing their homes. After some time, the hidden villages began seeing a drop in mission requests once construction was complete. With the creation of the Allied Shinōbi Forces, the Five Great Shinōbi Hidden Villages were reluctant in accepting missions that clashed with the accord founded in the recent war; especially to the Land of Fire, home of the Hailed Hero.

Eventually, many war veterans retired early and took on civilian jobs. Their children, frightened of the ninja life style their parents had supported during their era, eagerly sought alternative vocations. As a result, academy class sizes dwindled significantly and shinōbi regulations were tightened to ensure the quality of discipline were above par to dispute the now faltering line of shinōbi reserves.

But as all smart leaders know, a good leader prepares for war in times of peace; regardless of the lack of soldiers.

The Rokudaime was a man harden by the two wars raged in his life and the lost, with the exception of his genin team, of all the people who mattered to him. And so when the anticipated post-war relations between countries outside of the Allied Forces grew strenuous, he retaliated with the creation of a horrific secret organization. From the post-war ashes of Konohagakure, the Elite were established. Despite its creation was done in secret, the deeds of the Elite grew well-known as word of entire platoons have been wiped out in mere hours and enemy bases found to be completely destroyed not long after discovery.

And what scared everyone the most was that no one knew who the Elite were.

Though it was rumored that the current hokage, the Nanadaime, was once a part of it, it was never confirmed.

These Elite warriors are trained and seasoned until their reflexes are akin to that of war veterans. Most of those recommended for the position do not live through the training or are too traumatized to continue. The endured, however, are awarded with one of the five exclusive positions in the Hokage's closest entourage.

It was an honor greater than a battle death.

You simply were not just any shinōbi. You were the fastest. You were the loyal. You were the resilient.

You were the Elite.

* * *

><p>A fist slammed into her cheek and Sarada was sure that a molar was loose.<p>

She quickly sent a kick to the man's groin and threw some smoke bombs. Sarada defenestrated herself out the closest window and made a fast break for the forest. The foliage would protect her.

Sarada knew she could not outrun her enemies injured like this. Not when they consist of two_ especially persistent_ special jōnins. This left only one option: hide.

Knowing that they were master chakra detectors denied her of any jutsu-based camouflage. They would see through the ruse immediately. And even with her inherited perfect chakra control, she was sure she could not withhold the disillusion for more than a few seconds in this current state.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a gurgling steam and Sarada was stuck with inspiration. Quickly she stripped away every article of clothing, her ANBU mask was lost three weeks ago, and decided to go mud sliding in a pile of soddy dirt by the rocky stream. After essentially drilling herself into the ground, she compressed her chakra into the signature of a tiny living creature hoping to be mistaken for a fish, though it was not hard considering she had next to nothing left.

Sanada tried to stay awake with the long hours to come but the stab wounds to her rib cage, the burns on her hands, and the surely now infected flesh wound on her back were starting to take its toll. However, she knew the risks to try to heal herself. She could not afford to redirect her measly amount of chakra left to heal her body. Not when the special jōnin with the weird eyes, whom she assumes to be the chakra tracker, was looking for a being that was flitting their chakra around with practiced ease.

So all she could do was wait.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. When nearly 24 hours had passed, Sarada emerged feeling weak and sleep deprived. Her mind sharpened and she calculated what had to be done. She was without clothes, weapons, and food supply. This meant she had to find a town or a village to recuperate. Satisfied with the rough plan, she simply lapped the water for a long drink and stumbled towards the direction she hoped to have some form of civilization.

Luckily, her first guess at civilization was correct. Unluckily however, it was Amegakure. Despite Hokage-sama's kindred-ness to their past leader, Amegakure had rebuffed any alliance attempts Naruto-ōji had made. Even during the Fourth Great Shinōbi War, they had decided to remain to themselves, rather than to help contribute to the fight to save humanity. Their stiffness has made many enemies, even during the now almost twenty-five Golden Peace Years.

Sarada scoffed at the thought, '_Golden Peace Years, my ass.'_

The smaller lands that surround the Five Great Shinōbi Nations were constantly warring against the Allied Shinōbi Forces. Small skirmishes were frequent all across the borders. And though there were no unfriendly fires Sarada could remember near the borders of the Storm* and Fire, she would bet that Ame had at least made a dozen successful minor attempts. They were not once the most prized assassin hidden village for nothing.

As she neared the outskirts of the village, Sarada remembered reading somewhere that the rainfall in Amegakure was laced with chakra to monitor foreign visiters. A technique created by Nagato when he was the puppet leader of the Akatsuki. Though he is gone, whoever the leader now utilized the same technique and allowed for a slight drizzle to fall exclusive around Amegakure, stopping right before the lake that surrounds it.

Sensing no chakra in the lake itself, Sarada slipped into the water to wait for someone to pass by so she could ambush them. There was simply no way she would make it out of Amegakure if she entered. Her best luck was homeward bound shinōbi.

It was a few hours before anything close to life had scurried near the outer lake coasts and then a couple more hours before she heard voices. At this, Sarada jolted into high alert.

"His face looked like this!" a boy's voice rang out.

A young child? Judging by the inflection, he was twelve at most. Sarada began contemplated a course of action when several other signature appeared.

"Scaredy-cat indeed!" a girl's voice giggled. "That's pretty accurate, Kentei."

Sarada furrowed her eyebrows, '_A chūnin team? Wait no, they sound too young. Perhaps a genin_—'

"Hey, we should not be so cocky. One of these days, it won't be so easy," an deeper voice chuckled softly.

A sensei. Jōnin, definitely. Sarada suddenly felt a pang for Mirai-sensei.

"Yeah, those Konoha ninjas didn't even see it coming! How pathetic!" a new, third voice laughed.

Sarada frozed.

"I'm telling you, these assassin missions are boring. Can't we assasinate someone cool? Like the Lightning Daimyo?" the boy Kentei exclaimed.

"Now, now," the sensei chastised, "that's not for us to decide, Kentei. You know we do not take on assassin missions of higher authority lightly. Besides, the missions we do now are great training purposes for our specialized team."

The young genin team was training to be a specialized assassin team. And they were using the border towns of Fire as target practice. It took all of Sarada's will power not to thrash them straight away.

"But sensei," the girl whined, "assassinations are so easy. Wiping out entire towns have become like those missions where we—"

She tuned them out, unable to stomach the conversation anymore.

These—These children were killing hundreds of people. They had felt no remorse for killing civilians and ninjas in mass amounts. With her own hands bloodied to the core, it would be hypocritical for her to say she has not killed in cold blood or assassinated some poor civilian or naughty ninja, especially since that was the type of mission that she had just completed. But it was different hearing it from _mere_ children laughing at her dead _brothers and sister in arms._

Her vision was filled with red.

Before the team even made it midway to the gate, Sarada quickly subdued them all and slit each of their throats with steady hands. Part of the fatality was that it was a high risk to leave them alive, another part was her sense of justification. She began pulling on any articles of clothing that could remotely fit her. Once she finished stashing all the weapons she could gather and procured any blood replenishing and solder pills she could get, Sarada quickly disposed of all the bodies and headed for cover, checking to see she had really indeed shaken her enemies off.

The mission she was called on was to assassinate a civilian rebel leader in a small relatively, unknown village at the border of Bird and Bear. A group known as the Kami Welders had been causing trouble for all of Bird country. The daimyo of Bird had requested from Fire that a skilled shinōbi were to infiltrate the civilian rebel leader's close circle and stop the revolution from igniting all the way to Ishigakure. Though technically the Earth and Bird had a written alliance to utilize their shinōbi for a cheaper price, relations were still awfully fragile according to the Bird Daimyo. Thus the mission fell to Konohagakure. It had been an important enough mission for it to be requested for Anbu to take on.

Because of the tipsy state of peace in Bird, the mission called for a slow dissembling of the rebel revolution from the inside to keep the group from starting an uproar and exciting a revolution on that in its own, but quickly enough to keep it from gaining momentum. Which happened to be Sarada's specialty. Her long-term mission success rate was ninety-eight percent.

Despite what most people thought, Sarada would not credit her success to mere ninjutsu or taijutsu or genjutsu or any type of jutsu. She credited it to her incredible ability to act for long periods of time. Most long-term mission requires a new persona with a past. She would begin acting before her mission started to ensure her past was far enough that her stories could be validated. This art was drilled into her by her replacement sensei.

Rather than running like a mad man all the way to Bird and starting the mission there, Sarada began her mission in the village. She posed as a lowly weapon's trader and slowly traveled to Bird. That, in itself, had taken two month. From there, it took her another four to convince the rebel group that she was indeed just a lowly trader treated terribly in all the big shinōbi villages. The rebel group had outside sources and some even recall her fake name as the traders being victimized across countries everywhere. This reinforced her identity. Sarada managed to assassinate the man quickly after climbing ranks in the Kami Welders after another two months. However, what she did not plan was that the civilian rebel leader had enough money to hire five special jōnins from Ishigakure to seek his revenge if he were to ever assassinated. Sarada then spent another two and a half months sending the five said special jōnins on a merry goose chase all the way up to Earth before running back down to Storm in an effort to lose them. She had only managed to kill three. Ishigakure jōnins are like cockroaches; they refused to be killed.

Sarada quickly adding up the times and found that it had been nearly eleven months. Naruto-oji had given her a deadline of one year before he said he would dispatch a rescue team.

This meant she had roughly seven weeks before a team of a raging Takeuchi, Shikadai, and Himawari would be sent to find her. Anbu did not have the luxury of communication with the Hokage, especially on long-term missions as this one. Search and rescue missions were always prompt. Especially since ninety-seven percent of the time, late arrivals are due to enemy capture, mission failure, or death. The other three percent were credited to torture so great, insanity has consumed them to the point of amnesia.

With the thought of home, Sarada quickly closed her eyes and began the slow processes of replenishing her chakra reserves and healing herself to making the slow journey back to Konoha while trying to shake off her trailers.

* * *

><p>Blood. Blood <em>everywhere.<em>

The stench of blood was so overwhelming that even Anko-sensei would have had a hard time stomaching it all at once.

Every border town that Sarada passed was burned down and the people and children were _all dead. _Surfaces were coated in the red viscous liquid. For something that was supposed to symbolize life, Sarada felt that it was more suited for death.

This third border town was exactly like the others— completely destroyed and void of life. It was wiped clean of all food supplies, weapons armory looted, and all the bodies piled in the center with a Konoha flag draped across the top. An eternal burning jutsu placed on the sacred symbol of the leaf so that it will always burn but never go out.

This was an act of war and any shinōbi who had stumble upon this scene would immediately understand the gravity of the situation. A completely gruesome act against, not just one but three, Konoha-affiliated towns. Towns that were under the jurisdiction of a man that had save all of humanity in the goodness of his heart.

Sarada fist gripped the stolen katana she had found two weeks ago in her hand a little tight.

Un-_fucking_-grateful.

Her only consolation was the justice in the dead genin team whom admitted the murder. And yet still, innocent lives were lost. Lives of friends, family, and children with eyes once filled with mirth, only to flicker as the burning flag laid on top shimmered in the wind.

Sarada closed her heart as she followed through protocol for an attacked town. Bile rose in her throat as she rummaged through the bodies, looking for a survivor. Faces blurred after another as she meticulously checked for pulsating chakra coils. There were no survivors.

Once she was through, Sarada pulled out the seven chūnins and two genins she had found and gave them a proper fire burial. After the First Great Shinōbi War, hidden villages began disposing of all deceased ninjas to ensure that the hidden village stayed hidden. Top secret shinōbi information of a hidden village could be found in the body, anywhere from how chakra coils tend to develop in certain terrain or the type of training based on muscle formation could be easily be obtained by a outsider medic-nin. Secrets that could destroy a hidden village if strategized strategically.

As for the civilian bodies, Sarada was sure that their loved ones would like to have the corpse for a typical funeral. There was no need to take away the only earthly remains of those most dear.

Turning herself east, Sarada began running at top speed. Naruto-oji would need to be informed immediately. What they needed was a retaliation plan. A justification.

_Revenge_.

* * *

><p>*Amegakure is located in an unnamed land in the real Naruto-verse. For the sake of this story, however, it will be called Storm.<p> 


	3. Chapter Two: Homecoming

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
><strong>Author:<strong> iamwildatheart**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>The Elite<br>**_Chapter Two_  
>Homecoming<p>

* * *

><p>Boruto has never hated his father more than he did at that exact moment. Who did he think he is, giving his own son a mission in Frost! Didn't his father know that he <em>hated<em> snow? And wearing all these clothes, bleck! It simply was too—

"_Die_!"

Not to mention, Shimogakure shinōbi just didn't die like they use to.

Suppressing a sigh, Bolt swiveled around, throwing snow into his enemy's line of vision in an attempt to distract him. He leaped back, switching weight from his left to his right, and aimed a shuriken for the solar plexus. Of course the snow-nin dodged, which allowed him to become impaled with the well-placed kunai Bolt subtly hid behind the previous projectile's trajectory.

Killer intent spiked behind him and Bolt ducked just in time before he could be beheaded. The impaled snow-nin, on the other hand, was not as lucky.

"You shouldn't reveal your location so soon," Boruto drawled as he spun the kunai in his hand mockingly at the gaping newcomer. "Your teammate could get beheaded."

With that, Boruto drove the kunai into the shell-shocked teammate.

* * *

><p>"You could've been a lot cleaner," Chiharu commented.<p>

Boruto pouted at his commander's hidden message. He was sloppy.

"B-But they wouldn't stop _moving_," he whined back childishly.

Instead of a response, he received a light knock on the side of his head. Boruto slumped even further and watched Chiharu moved about the camp in a professional manner. The blonde shinōbi began twiddling with her weapon's pack. Bolt watched her, as he has done so a thousand times, begin her nightly (also slightly OCD) regime. Counting.

Her deft hands efficiently removed weapons from her pouch. When she was done, she continued onto her body— sleeves, collars, pockets, wrists, ankles, boots, and so forth. It never ceases to amaze Bolt many weapons his captain could hide on herself. In the end, she had counted eight kunais, thirty four shurikens, seventy-two sebons, two stabbing knives, fourteen meters of steel ninja wire, a katana, and two bobby pins (which Bolt can personally vouch that Chiharu can creatively utilize just a little_ too_ well). She was missing just under half of what she started with.

Chiharu frowned.

"Maybe you could've been a lot cleaner," Bolt playfully mocked.

A rock promptly collided in the same exact spot his captain had knocked earlier. Except this time, it was not too gentle. Bolt pouted even further.

"I miss her."

Boruto's childish facade fell.

Mihara was the second oldest member of the Elite team and Boruto's superior (i.e. his personal hell instructor). She had taught him the ropes to the cruel world of the Elite. She pushed him. She cared for him. She was the first person to ever treat him like he was Boruto and not the hokage's son.

And now she has been missing for months now.

Seven months ago, rumors stated the smaller lands north of Fire have grown restless and the Nanadaime was forced to send her on a solo mission to investigate the disturbing rumors of the events happening between the Land of Hot Water and Frost. Information was steadily flowing between her and the undercover messenger planted in Frost until it abruptly stop two months ago. The hokage immediately dispatched Takeuchi and Chiharu for a rescue mission.

As protocol dictates, all rescue missions are given three weeks. One week to track, one week to search and rescue, one week to recover and give rudimentary medical attention. At least, that's what the standards were. On Mihara's rescue mission, they had not even used the "search and rescue" and "recovery" weeks. They spent every last second of their three weeks even trying to find the slightest hint she still existed on the planet. It was as if she had disappeared.

The hokage is typically more lenient when it comes to extending rescue missions, however with the border problems between Frost and Lightning, they were forced to terminate the mission as failture. Mihara was branded MIA two days later.

The hokage has been sending them all across Lightning and Frost to keep the rebellion at a minimum. It's been months since then and there was not a second left between all the assassinations, healing, and tracking they did to even think about Mihara. Until now.

"Yeah, me too," Boruto agreed softly.

Chiharu threw another rock at Boruto. This time, he caught it.

"We'll find her. Mihara is too stubborn to die. We leave at dusk."

Boruto smiled at his commander's attempt to comfort him, despite her lack of "touchy-feelings." Chiharu was right. There's no way she could be dead. And they'll be back in Konoha in a day. He'll pester his father for another search and rescue mission. And Mihara will be home again.

* * *

><p>"There's something wrong here. Take cover."<p>

Boruto immediately ducked behind a tree, pulling a kunai out as he went. When it finally hit him, he nearly doubled over from the fumes. It was the smell of decaying corpses.

Chiharu motioned for Boruto to trail her. They both silently followed the trail of death. A few hundred meters later, it took them to one of Fire's border towns. Or, whatever that was left of it.

Bodies of civilians and ninjas were piled high in the center. Blood had dried in rivers surrounding the mound of flesh. On top was an ever burning emblem of Konohagakure, mocking the Elitest.

Boruto wanted to destroy whoever that had done this. It made his stomach churn just looking at the horrific sight before him, and not a sick-to-my-stomach kind but in a pure-unadulterated-rage sort of way.

This was a war declaration.

Boruto nearly chucked his katana at the Konoha flag just to keep it from waving in his face.

"Search for survivors. Find any Konoha shinōbis and give them a proper burial."

Boruto gripped his fists tighter and did as he was told. He didn't need to be reminded of protocol or reprimanded for his temper. He knew it was his commander telling him to get it together. And to do so, sometimes it meant closing his heart.

Though they knew based on the smell of the corpse, the Elitest had found no survivors. If there were any, eventually they would have bled out or have been crushed as the perpetrators piled the bodies a long time ago. As for the Konoha shinōbis, they found nine chuūnins and four jōnins. Chiharu unleashed a katon and Boruto watched thirteen of his brothers and sisters go up in flames.

Unable to keep his emotions in control at the thought, Boruto began circling the town with the customary two kilometer radius to check for clues of who had done this. Three-fourths way into his loop, Bolt had found an arm.

The arm was ripped unceremonious from the shoulder based on the tear. From the look of the elbow, the arm was already been broken before the detachment and burning of the limb. If this arm was here, then where was the rest of the body? And what was that familiar looking thing? Bolt reached out for a closer look and then—

Chiharu gave a strangled cry.

Bolt wasn't aware the Chiharu_ could_ give a strangled cry. He grabbed the arm and tried to find his commander's chakra. At that, he latched onto the seal he had placed on her weapon's pack and transported himself immediately to her location.

Chiharu was sobbing uncontrollably on the ground. This alone would have shocked Boruto, if not for the hanging corpse mauled beyond belief in front of him. It was stripped completely naked and had slash marks across its body. A large chunk of flesh was missing from it left hip, so much so that you could see the bone. Its foot was obviously detached from the ankle, and yet the skin had held it together still. The one eye left was once part of a set that Boruto longed to see again after the many months of absence.

And the biggest clue to the corpse's identity was the missing arm.

The arm Boruto held in his hand suddenly felt heavy as he now recognized the ring he'd seen earlier on it. It was the same matching ring he wore on the necklace hidden under his vest. The ring gifted to him when he had officially joined the Elite.

The ring given to him by the very much dead Mihara, hanging in front of him.

* * *

><p>Sakura Haruno had aged well.<p>

This was a fact well accepted in the village. In fact, to this day, men of all ages still flirt with her as she goes about her daily activities. Be it at the grocery store or the hospital, the endless line of men never ceased. This was especially true with the constant flow of visitors from all the hidden villages.

And it was for this exact reason that no one hated the shinōbi accords more than Sasuke Uchiha. No matter how much scaring he did, more would appear.

"Stop pouting," Sakura lightly chided.

Sasuke's mood sunk even lower at the thought of the man, who had just hit on his wife, living to see another day.

"Now, now," Sakura laughed, "if you stop pouting, I'll make you your favorite tomato soup for dinner tonight."

Sasuke gave Sakura a knowing look and continued slumping on. Why couldn't people leave them alone on their daily walks? Annoying.

"You know, Sarada should comes home any day now."

"Aa."

"It been a while, ne?" Sakura said so wistfully.

Sasuke pondered when was the last time he had seen his daughter. He, himself, was called a way on a mission in Lightning for a few weeks when she was given the long term mission. He almost wrangled the dobe's neck when he got back for sending her away before he could see her off. It had been too long.

"I miss her," Sasuke admitted, as he reached out to take Sakura's hand.

Sakura smiled. Over the years, Sasuke had gotten better with telling his feelings. Though conversation still lack, it was much better than it was when they had first started dating.

"Me too," Sakura said as she squeezed Sasuke's hand reassuringly. "I'm sure she's fine."

"If she's not, I'll kill the dobe."

Sakura laughed.

"Yes, yes, but not before you pick up Satoru from the Academy."

* * *

><p>"Tadaima*!"<p>

Not given a second to take her shoes off, Sarada was immediately tackled with a blur of blue and gray.

"Nee-chan**, I missed you!"

Staring into her eyes was a familiar pair of green eyes that matched her own. That aside, the nine year old boy was the exact replica of Sasuke Uchiha. Sarada concluded then and there that her father had found a way to clone himself.

"Hi, Satoru," Sarada affectionately patted Satoru's head.

"Sarada?" asked a distant voice. Immediately, her mother's head popped into the doorway.

Sarada smiled, "Hi Oka-san***."

"Ah! I thought I heard a familiar voice!" Sakura smiled and slowly inched back into the dining room. "Now, both of you come in here in help me set up the table."

Satoru scrambled up while pulling his sister up, never once letting go.

"And when you're done, let me heal your knee. _Properly_!"

Sarada rolled her eyes at her overly concerned mother. Nothing gets pass her eyes.

"Hey nee-chan!" Satoru eagerly shouted, "Guess what? Did you know I'm on the top of my class? And— "

And Satoru continued to ramble on. Sarada was half-listening as she examined her little brother of the differences since she had last saw him. Some baby fat around his face was lost, and he was a good inch taller, reaching to perhaps her shoulder now. His eyes glistened with all the different types of jutsus he was learning at the academy. It had made Sarada feel terrible for missing out on an entire year of his life. She then made a mental note not to take on any more long term missions for a while.

"—Nara-sensei told me that the tactical division actually—"

"Sarada."

Immediately, Satoru stopped his anecdote at the call of his sister's name. Sarada's attention then shifted from her younger brother to her father.

Her father was considered intimidating to most of her peers in her generation. Sasuke Uchiha once had held the fate of world in his hands and nearly abolished it. Though many have forgiven him, there are still those prejudiced to his past deeds.

And though there are many reason to fear him, Sarada could only see the kind eyes he had when looking at her, the long tea parties when she was six, and the secret kisses he gave her when he thought she was asleep. Sasuke Uchiha was her daddy.

"Otōu-san."

Sasuke shuffled pass both his children and gave them each a loving pat, stopping to linger a little longer on Sarada.

"Okari.****"

Sarada was home.

* * *

><p>*Tadaima is phrase to say, "I am home," in Japanese.<p>

**Nee-chan is older sister in Japanese.

***Oka-san is mother in Japanese.

****Otōu-san is father in Japanese.


	4. Chapter Three: The Inbetween

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
><strong>Author:<strong> iamwildatheart**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>The Elite<br>**_Chapter Three_  
>The Inbetween<p>

* * *

><p>Times like these was when Naruto really needed sake.<p>

Or at least thirty-seven bowls of Ichiraku's special pork ramen.

"Are you even _listening_ to me?"

Naruto wanted to bash this women. However, the people of Konoha would probably looked down on their esteem Hokage strangling the fire daimyo's daughter.

"Of course," Naruto gritted his teeth, "however, your request is not likely as this mission does not require three special jōnins to escort you and your daughter on a shopping trip in the Kantōu shopping district."

In reality though, two of the three special jōnins were actually ANBU captains, but that information is supposed to be classified.

"Yes, yes, yes," the flamboyant woman, girl really, waved him away, "but I _specifically_ want Takeuchi Soya, Shikadai Nara, and Sasuke Uchiha."

"And why is that?"

"Because they are simply the best pedigree to offer us."

A pause ensued the princess's request. Naruto's smile widened. It was obviously very fake.

"What is your real motive in asking for these men to follow you around?"

The princess hesitated before confidently saying, "I believe Takeuchi Soya and Shikadai Nara would make wonderful suitors for my daughter."

Naruto raised a brow at her admittance. Clearly, the princess has no shame.

"And Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Who said I couldn't have my own eye candy?"

Naruto wanted to slam his head against his desk repeatedly. However, Shikamaru would probably have him working in the office until the morning after tomorrow if he broken his desk again for the third time this month.

Instead, Naruto continued to smile and pressed the intercom button that connected him to the mission intake room.

"Hai, Hokage-sama?"

"See that the Princess of Fire and her daughter gets the appropriate guard for the duration of her stay here in accordance to the shinōbi mission risk scale. As you know, she is a very important political figure."

The princess smiled and gave Naruto a wink, which he returned back playfully.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

With that, the princess rushed to the mission intake room two floors down and Naruto was alone. Until Shikamaru decided to enter with more paperwork. Fooey.

"You know, she'll be awfully mad later. And we'll probably hear from the Fire Daimyo himself because of this," Shikamaru drawled lazily as he placed the stack neatly on Naruto's corner.

"But will we really suffer repercussions? I don't think so!" Naruto grinned cheekily.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "I wonder who she'll get."

After all, despite being the princess of fire, the escort mission would probably rank at most a C; meaning either a team of genins or a newly risen chūnin.

* * *

><p>Oh how she hated packing.<p>

A week after Sarada had been back, she went to hunt down her old landlord for her old apartment back. Unfortunately, it was still leased. However, the land lady had a duplicate of the same living quarters two floors above it and Sarada was more than happy to take it. Living back at home for the last week had made her realized, that though she did love her family very much, they drove her nuts.

If she had to see her father give all her guy teammates any more dirty looks—

"Hey! What are you doing with all those boxes?"

Sarada whipped around at the familiar voice and gave a brilliant smile, "Takeuchi! Come and help me!"

The black haired shinōbi gave a brilliant smile, took a number of the boxes littered around his longtime friend, and started taping.

Sarada's mother was a frequenter at the Konohagakure National Library. And more than often, Sarada was also brought along with. The lack of a babysitter and her father's high shinōbi ranking had made it quite impossible for her mother to leave Sarada at home. And so everywhere Sakura went, Sarada was sure to follow.

Despite Sarada's love for books now, Sarada had no interests in books in the early years of her life. Sakura had tried to get her interested in sensory books, picture books, and audiobooks. Sarada instead chewed, ripped, and ate them all with vicious attitude. Sasuke laughed at his daughter's own likeness to his own when he was her age.

And so whenever she was dragged to the library, Sarada would lament in the children's section for hours before dragging her reluctant mother out the door. It was not until she was six did she discover another regular, a dark haired boy with curious yellow eyes, in the reference section, two bookshelves down.

After three weeks of fighting boredom by herself, Sarada finally approached him and asked for some company. His name was Takeuchi Soya.

Takeuchi was already in the academy and was about to start his second year in the spring. Until then, he was camping out in the library to pass the time. At first, Sarada was surprised at another person simply reading books for fun. The only person she knew to do that was her mother and Sarada is convinced that her mother is not normal. But after Takeuchi began reading out loud during their weekly meetings, Sarada began to see why reading was fun. Together, they read anything they could get their hands on, from action novels to cookbooks.

And it was that moment, Takeuchi became her best friend.

Eventually, Sarada was enrolled in the academy and began her training. Between her parents' training and extra practice with Takeuchi, Sarada quickly rose to number one in her class. Four years later, she had skipped the two final years and graduated early.

And though she was placed on a different team from Takeuchi, their friendship had stayed close regardless of distance. In fact, he is still a great frequenter at the Uchiha compound with or without Sarada.

"So why did you even move back to your parent's again?" Takeuchi asked absent-mindedly as he rifled through Sarada's box of weapons.

Sarada huffed as she lifted another box from the shelf to the ground and peered at its contents. Of course it was more weapons. "I could've sworn I packed all of these already," she muttered under her breath.

In a little louder voice, she answered her friend's question, "Well, you know that I was assigned on that long mission in Bird—" Takeuchi gave an uncommitted hum of agreement, "—and so it didn't make sense for me to pay for an apartment when I'll be gone for at least a year. So I figured I'd just move my stuff back to the compound."

"And why are you moving out again?"

"I can't stand living at home again! Ugh! I moving back to the complex by the square."

Takeuchi smiled knowingly at the exact problem to her plight and ruffled Sarada's hair, "They mean well. I don't blame your dad though, it's tough fighting off boys."

Sarada glowered, "Ha, ha, very funny. My dad just likes to think every boy, that's not you, is an enemy."

"And he's right to think so."

Sarada huffed.

Despite Sarada's attitude, Sasuke Uchiha did have his work cut out between shooing away his wife (because really, there are scums that overlook the ring on her finger) and his own daughter's (dirty, _dirty_ scums).

Sarada Uchiha blossomed during her twenty-two years of life. Even as a little girl she was adoring with her bright green eyes. Now, as a grown woman, she had no trouble seizing attention where she went. Sarada knew that she was somewhat attractive with her long wavy black hair and viridian eyes. Her stature was similar to that of her mother's where nothing was too big or too small. However, she was well aware that there were more stunning girls like Saiya Yamanaka, Inojin's little sister.

What she was not aware of was that she probably would have gotten the same attention as Saiya Yamanaka if it weren't for her father, Takeuchi, and her teammates Jinjin Hiroshi and Isamu Inuzuka. However, Takeuchi was not about to let Sarada know that for fear of Sasuke Uchiha hunting him down for destroying twenty-two years of life work.

"Anyways," Takeuchi changed the subject merrily, "after we finish moving your stuff, let's go get some Ichiraku! I haven't hung out with you in a while."

Even before her extended mission, Jinjin barely had anytime to spare in between his own missions and his genin team. And Isamu was in the midst of some bizarre two month long training for a super secret move with his canine partner, Baku. And so when Sarada had return, she spent the week throwing herself into reacquainting with her teammates.

Without realizing, she had been neglecting Takeuchi.

Sarada's eyes soften, "Sure."

* * *

><p>Boruto slammed his fist through the wooden pole. Even without chakra, the wooden splintered off into tiny pieces. Still feeling dissatisfied, Bolt continued to kick and punch the stump of wood left on Training Ground Fifteen.<p>

Damn. Damn. _Damn_.

_Damn it to fucking hell_.

Boruto got on to his knees and screamed.

It wasn't suppose to be like this. She wasn't suppose to die. She had plans. And oh god, he had to be the one to tell her fiancé— Boruto wanted to vomit at the thought of Kenji's kind face crumbling at the news.

Kenji did not deserve this.

Chiharu did not deserve this.

_He_ did not deserve this.

"Bolt."

Boruto froze at the voice. He didn't even feel her presence sneak up on him.

"Bolt," again came the soothing voice.

Boruto slowly sat back on his haunches and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He didn't want her to see him like this. Not after he hadn't seen her for months.

"Boruto, sweetheart. Come here."

Boruto's eyes began to glisten as he obeyed the command. His clothes were in tatters as he hadn't bothered changing. The months of dirt, gunk, and disgust had been soaked into his body. He felt ashamed of himself as he lowered himself into the woman's opened arms.

"Ōka-san."

Hinata Uzumaki dutifully began stroking her oldest's hair. At first, Boruto only sunk into his mother's embrace. And then, after a few minutes, sniffles could be heard. It was not longer before her son was clutching onto her yukata, heaving body-shaking sobs.

Hinata only kept stroking his hair.

"Why, Ōka-san? Why did it have to be her? Why? _Why_?"

"I don't know, Bolt," Hinata replied softly. "But all things happen for a reason. No matter how awful it is."

Boruto only gave more sobs.

"Mihara was a lovely girl. And I'm glad you had found great companionship with her," Hinata paused as she waited for Boruto to lessened his sobs, which he did, and she continued, "but she was foremost a shinōbi of the leaf."

Boruto was now hiccuping against his mother's tiny body.

"You, as well as any other shinōbi, knows the line of duty we live by everyday."

Sometimes, our family and friends don't come home.

"And so, it makes the time we have with our loved ones so much more dear. I'm sure Mihara-chan was happily content with the life she had live, with all the memories of you and of Kenji-kun, and the rest of the team."

There was a slight pause as Boruto's breathing had evened out, but his hold on his mother had by no means lessened.

"Does it get easier?" —with all the dying of all the people most dear to your heart?

Hinata smiled sadly, "No. But if it did, we wouldn't be human."

Silence ensued quickly after his mother's statement. It seemed a bit contradictory as he has never seen his mother or father falter at the news of someone they've known as died. His father and mother have been shinōbi for almost thirty years. A feat that was quite impressive as most shinōbis remain on the active roaster for about twenty years before retiring due to injuries or death itself.

And so his parents' list of dead love ones was quite extensive.

"Boruto," his mother started again, "sometimes, it is hard being a father and the hokage at the same time."

Boruto knew this was to ensue. He had only wished his mother had waited a bit.

When Boruto had come home, he went straight to reporting to his father as protocol dictated. However, being his father's son, he had not hesitated telling his father off for sending Mihara on a suicide mission. He was furious, throwing practically everything he has ever done wrong in his father's face. His father merely sat there, stony faced. When Boruto was all but heaving from his shouting, Naruto replied dismissively, "Report here at 1100 hour Friday for a new assignment. See you at home."

Boruto left without another word and vowed he would never see his father again. This was two days ago.

"Your father hasn't left the office since, you know."

_Who cares_, Boruto scoffed inwardly.

"I know you and your father don't spend nearly as much time as you wish you could—" hardly, seeing as he likes to kill his best friends, "—but that is why your father is heavily taking the blame for Mihara's death."

Wait, what?

"Your father had a rough childhood. Everyone scorned him for the Kyuubi inside of him. They called him a monster. And so all he really had were Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi-san."

Boruto reeled from the information. As far as he knew, his father was the esteem hero and everyone loved his cheeky, ever-smiling father. Charismatic and full of great ideas, his father has always been the sight of adoration in his eyes. He would be lying if he denied it to this day. It's just a bit hard living up to the savior of humanity.

"All he really wanted was to have a family, and being the best dad he could be to his children. Being a hokage has made it really hard for him to be here for you every step, but you have to know, Boruto. He tries extremely hard for you."

Boruto swallowed the spit that built up in the back of his throat.

"Since he can't always be there for you, he was extremely happy that Mihara could. And knowing your father, he's probably working himself to the bone as punishment for sending her to her death. He would never want to take away your happiness."

Boruto heard his mother's message loud and clear. His mother really knew how to make him feel guilty and better all at once. It had to be a mother thing because he swore Shikadai both loved and fear his.

"Where is Otōu-san?"

Hinata gently smiled and pulled her son to his feet, "You know where."

Boruto smiled and gave his mom an embraced.

"Thank you, Ōka-san. I'll be home in a bit."

* * *

><p>When Sarada and Takeuchi arrived at Ichiraku a few hours later, the sun was setting nicely over the horizon. The low chatter from passerbys and the candle lit shop lanterns flickered on quickly contributed to Konoha's beautiful summer evenings.<p>

"Sarada-chan! Takeuchi-chan! So nice to see you younglings after so long!" Ayame, the shop owner, called as they entered the little shop.

The said younglings bowed. "It is so nice to see you again too, Ayame-san," Sarada added politely.

Ayame waved them off with a slight blush on her face, "It's nothing! So polite, like your father and mother, Sarada-chan. No need to be so formal. And what did I tell you about calling me Ayame-ōba-san*!"

Sarada blushed at the compliment, "Hai, Ayame-ōba-san."

With that, Ayame had all but ushered them into the few booths that littered the restaurant. Though Ichiraku had been rebuilt over the years, Ayame decided to honor her late father and kept the shop small. And though the popularity of the ramen to continue to grow, the small restaurant only expanded to accommodate fifteen at most. The shop was still square, but unlike before, the ramen bar had stools lined around three sides, while Ayame and her husband served from all sides in the middle.

Sarada and Takeuchi seated at the end on the left side. Unfortunately, however, the minute they had gotten settled, a chūnin arrived to call Takeuchi away for a pressing mission.

"Are you serious? You can tell Naruto-ōjji** to shove it," Sarada puffed.

Takeuchi smiled apologetically at the chūnin receiving the misplaced anger of an Uchiha and reached out to ruffle Sarada's hair, "Sorry, bud. Duty calls. Raincheck when I get back?"

Sarada frowned and nodded reluctantly.

With that, Takeuchi took off with the dumb chūnin and Sarada pouted. It was completely unfair that when they finally had time to hang out and catch up, a blasted mission comes up. If she ever sees—

"Mind if I join you?"

Sarada looked up to see her father already sliding in Takeuchi's old seat.

"Ōtou-san?" she asked in surprised, "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke merely skimmed the menu before off-handingly saying, "I meeting with Naruto for a dinner."

Ah. His father's monthly bro-dinner with the hokage.

When Sarada was younger, it was typical to see Naruto-ōjji at the Uchiha-compound. Afterall, they saved humanity together. If that did not cemented friendship than Sarada did not know what did. And sometimes, he would bring his wife and son over if work permitted. His wife was part of the senior counsel for the Hyūga clan and so between helping Hanabi-sama run her original clan, being the first lady of Konoha, and her wild son and newborn daughter, Hinata-sama was hardly seen at the compound.

However, the few times that she had come, Sarada was forced to interact with Boruto. Needlessly to say, having an immature Uchiha and Uzumaki together for an unspecific amount of time together only led to the destruction of the courtyard. And someone was _always_ crying.

And it definitely was not her.

Eventually, family gatherings became difficult and only Naruto-ōjji could afford to take work off for a few hours once a month. And so Sarada never had to see Boruto anymore. Until the academy.

When the academy time came around, Boruto and Sarada was placed in the same class as many of their family friends (apparently Rookie Nine got busy all at once). However, after a month, they both found themselves in two different classes permanently.

Sasuke Uchiha was a proud man when he received news that his daughter had thrashed the hokage's son and was forced to separate into a different class.

Needlessly to say, Sarada and Boruto never really saw each other after that. Though the academy was small, it was large enough to keep them from running into each other. When they had made genin, it was already normal for academy friends to never see each other after that due to the sheer number of missions each genin team took up. And when they were not on missions, they were training.

Sarada really thought about it, it had to have been about eight years since she had seen in passing the little Prince of Konoha and a good fifteen years since she had talked to him.

Funny how childhood prejudices can really shape a person's life.

"Oi! Teme!"

"Dobe."

Sarada, still staring off into space, rolled her eyes at the rehearsed greeting between the supposedly most dangerous men of all time.

"Do you mind if my son joins us? I haven't had much time with him lately."

Sarada's eyes snapped up to see the hokage and his son, both dirty and sweaty, walk up to their seats. Much to her surprised, Boruto looked just like the pictures of his father when he was younger. It was startling.

She was not staring at Boruto the snotty brat who stuck gum in her when she was not looking, but Boruto the _man_ whom she knew nothing about anymore. Time had passed by more quickly than she had thought.

Sasuke merely shrugged his shoulder as if to say he would not mind. And Naruto smiled as he and his son took up the adjacent seats.

"Konichiwa***, Sasuke-ōjji-san," a deep voice cheerfully, but respectfully greeted her father.

Sasuke gave a nod, "Konichiwa, Boruto."

And suddenly Sarada caught Boruto's incredibly blue eyes as his attention switched to her. At first, it seemed as though he was analyzing her, but as quick as the wind, he gave a bright polite smile, "Sarada-san, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"It has," Sarada agreed politely. God, this felt stifling.

"Dobe, why are you all dirty?"

Thank god for fathers.

Naruto grinned cheekily and laughed deeply as he wound his arm around his son, pulling them closer, "Well, Boruto and I were having a scuffle. And like real men, we settled it with our fists."

To which, Boruto replied by rolling his eyes and playfully, with feigned reluctance, fist bumping his father.

_Boys_, Sarada thought with great exasperation.

Taking that as her cue to leave, Sarada stirred to leave. However, before she could fully rise, Sasuke stopped her with a look.

"Sarada, stay. You've yet to eat dinner."

"Yeah!" Naruto-ōjji chimed in. "And if I'm not correct, you haven't seen Bolt in a while! Come—" Sarada was unceremoniously grabbed by the hokage and dumped in his spot while he took her original chair by her father, "—and reacquaint yourself while I have some old man talk with your father!"

Sarada pointedly regarded her father with a look that clearly said you-only-want-me-to-say-because-you-couldn't-possibly-handled-_two_-Uzumakis-at-dinner, which he pointedly ignored as he sipped his tea.

Bastard.

"Naruto-ōjji, if you touch me again, I will not hesitate to kill you."

Naruto flinched.

Sasuke beamed.

"Hai hai, Sarada-chan," Naruto smiled uneasily. Hokage or not, Uchihas always carried through with their threats.

With that, the hokage turned to her father and began enthusiastically retelling what had happened at this year's Kage's Summit. Sarada rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this dobe was the savior of humanity.

"So this is awkward, huh?" Boruto laughed.

Sarada turned her calculating eyes back to her childhood enemy. Typically, she was not so rude to stranger, but her history with him begged her be so. However, why should she let old childhood rivalries better her. She was a woman now. There was no need for such hostilities.

"It is, isn't it?" Sarada smiled politely.

And then there was silence.

Boruto simply continued staring at her, completely fascinated, while Sarada folded and refolded her napkin.

"So—"

"Well—"

Both of them paused and Sarada quickly flushed. Since when did she even blush for a boy?

"How have you been?" Boruto asked quickly before the silence would come back.

"Well," Sarada replied, "I just came back from a long term mission."

"How long?"

"About a year."

"Ah," Boruto sighed compassionately, "feels good to be back, huh?"

"Yeah," Sarada smiled as she looked back out to the streets. "Can't be without Konoha too long."

A welcomed, content silence followed this time as the pair watched the evening grow darker. Konoha was just as lovely at night as the day.

"You have a beautiful smile."

Sarada, use to the sort of compliment from lechers, merely raised her eyebrow at him.

Boruto shrugged offhandedly as he continued staring at her, "Sakura-ōba-san's smile has been said to mend hearts. And you have her exact smile, dimples and all."

Not knowing what to say, Sarada instead said, "Do you know my mother well?"

"See her all the time," Boruto smiled brightly. "Someone's gotta keep me alive with all the suicide missions my old man sends me on."

And then with a lowered serious voice, Boruto whispered, "I swear, he's trying to kill me. I think he only loves Himawari."

Sarada simply just stared at him.

Were all Uzumakis weird? Surely, Himawari Uzumaki was normal. Or cursed with the existence of such men in her life.

Luckily, she was saved from commenting on Boruto's statement with the arrival of their food.

Boruto, who hadn't seem to mind (or had deduced why) the lack of conversation from Sarada's side, barreled on to a new topic about the different types of weaponry in the countries he's been. Sarada, who was more comfortable with the change in topic, gladly added her two cents.

Before long, the night came to a close and the pair were considerably more friendly than they were fifteen years ago.

"Well then, Boruto-san," Sarada said as she wiped the tears from her eyes after Boruto's tale about two bandits, a stray dog, and an aglet, "I think I'm going to go. I have a team training session in the morning that I think I should get some shut eye for."

"Call me Bolt," Boruto smiled brightly. "And it was nice remeeting you!"

Sarada smiled and turned to her father to give him a kiss, "Bye, Ōtou-san! See you tomorrow night for dinner!"

And as quick as the wind, she was gone.

With that, the men that remained merely stared at one another.

Naruto quickly clapped Sasuke on the back, "I told you my kid would be perfect!"

Sasuke merely gave his old friend a look and fixed Boruto with a look. Boruto, use to Sasuke's stares, was unease to find this one different from his usual looks.

"No flirting. Ever."

Boruto quickly nodded.

"Tch," Sasuke looked away angrily and begrudgingly gave a nod to the hokage, "I've never seen her un-guard herself as fast as she did with anyone but Takeuchi."

Boruto smiled politely, "Takeuchi talks about her a lot. I had a lot of information to go on."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "Are you playing with my daughter?"

Boruto restiffened, "No sir. I just meant that— I mean— ack!"

Naruto watched as his heir played straight into his best friend's trap. His son was so idiotic.

"What he means is, Teme," Naruto smartly interjected, "is that he had help with easing Sarada-chan's guarded personality."

Sasuke merely sulked and mumbled under his breath, "He didn't have to tell her that her smile was beautiful."

Naruto rolled his eyes, _over-protective fathers_.

"Head home, Boruto," he told his son. "Tell your mother I'll be home in a bit. I still have to discuss some more with your Sasuke-ōjji-san here."

Boruto gave a nod and quickly disappeared.

"How is it," Sasuke gave Naruto a look, "that your son is so polite and yet you lack manners."

Naruto scoffed, "Please. I have manners!"

"Like an elephant. Thank god for Hinata."

"Take that back!"

"No."

"_Teme_."

"_Dobe._"

There was a slight tense pause before both men smiled (though Sasuke's was significantly smaller) at each other.

"Man," Naruto laughed. "I love our monthly squabbles."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Where did you send Takeuchi?"

Naruto gave a devious smile, "Well, remember the Daimyo princess that wanted you, Takeuchi, and Shikadai to accompany her and her daughter in the Kantōu district?"

Sasuke shuddered at the thought of that flamboyant lady reducing to a mere fangirl in front of him the last time they've met.

"Well, she kicked such a fuss when she was assigned a chūnin that I decided to give her Takeuchi."

Sasuke chuckled, "Poor boy."

"It worked out. We needed to assess her and Takeuchi would've only gotten in the way."

Sasuke grew silent at the statement.

"Hey," Naruto bumped his shoulder with Sasuke's, "she'll be okay. Have faith in her."

Sasuke continued staring at the direction his daughter now resided.

"Yeah," he said softly.

* * *

><p>"How does this look?" a shrilled voice all but purred.<p>

Somewhere in the Kantōu shopping district, Takeuchi was plotting the hokage's death.

* * *

><p><strong>*Ōba-san<strong> means auntie

****Ōjji-san** means uncle

*****Konichiwa **means good evening

**A/N:** Sorry, this chapter is sort of a filler. However, it's twice as long! I promise the next one will be more exciting! Merry Christmas!


	5. Chapter Four: Impending Doom

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
><strong>Author:<strong> iamwildatheart

* * *

><p><strong>The Elite<br>**_Chapter Four_  
>Impending Doom<p>

* * *

><p>Boruto hesitated.<p>

"Enter, Boruto."

Wincing slightly at the use of his full first name, Boruto did as he commanded. His father, Naruto Uzumaki, was the savior of the world. He was the king of toads, had probably saved Konoha from complete destruction fifty-billion times, and most likely is the strongest ninja in the world. But something about him sitting there at his wooden desk with dark circles around his eyes made Boruto remember that his father was merely a man. A man who had given everything for his village, for his friends, for his son.

Suddenly, Boruto felt extra guilty.

"Is there something you would like to talk about?"

Shifting his weight from his left to his right, Bolt tried to find the right words to say.

"I'm—"

Boruto frowned. _'I'm sorry I was an awful son these past two days. Forgive me?'_ That even sounded stupid to himself.

Another approach.

"About Miha—"

But before he could finish, Naruto stood up suddenly and walked towards the door.

"Come on."

Boruto furrowed his eyebrows but did not question his father. They quickly exited the hokage tower and Naruto immediately took to the roofs. Halfway there, Bolt realized his father was taking him to the training grounds, specifically training ground three.

Arriving to the open field, Naruto immediately swiveled around and aimed a punch at where Boruto's head was. Well, where it _use_ to be, seeing as Boruto immediately ducked at his father's crazy antics.

"What the actual fuck, dad?" Boruto exclaimed as he blocked his father's kick to his stomach.

Refusing to answer, Naruto merely twisted his body and swung his remaining leg at his son's face. And because his son was an idiot, it actually landed and Boruto went flying down the open field. Quickly using the momentum, he flipped on his feet and skidded to a stop.

Boruto narrowed his eyes at his father. Naruto merely shifted to a defensive position.

_Fine_, Bolt thought, _if he wants to fight, he'll get one._

With that, the Elitest bolted towards his father. What began afterwards would have been a blur to a spectator eying the fight. Whatever Boruto threw at his father, Naruto blocked with ease. Every once in a while though, Naruto would switch to offensive and Boruto found himself struggling to keep up with his father. After tumbling from one of his father's blow for the nth time, Bolt could feel the frustration building to the boiling point. Until finally, Boruto let out a growl and retaliated against his father with newfound ferocity. He was finally matching his father's speed.

And then, he landed his first hit.

Naruto had not seen it, and when he finally realized where Boruto's fist was aiming, all he could do was turn his cheek and neutralize the blow. Boruto, immediately horrified at the sight of his father's now bruised cheek, frozed in one spot.

After what seemed like an eternity, Naruto straight up and turned his face to see his son.

"Ōtou-san, I—" Boruto started.

"Boruto," Naruto's voice rumbled as he interrupted his son, "_I_ am sorry."

Naruto gave his son a sad smile and continued, "I know that I haven't been the best father. Between running a village and the family, I find myself always only being able to devote my time to the village. I told myself, if I can't be there for my family always, then I'll make a village that can."

Shifting his eyes to the two new memorial stones added due to the casualties of Pein's invasion and the last great war, Naruto gazed fondly at the second stone. At the top, the first name to be engraved was his master.

"When Jiraiya died, I felt like I was suffocating. No one that was so close to my heart had ever died before. And the pain felt unbareable. I've never told anyone this before, but I even briefly contemplated suicide."

Boruto quickly inhaled at the information. Suicide was the highest form of shame for shinōbi. To willingly terminate yourself before finishing your duty to your village was considered cowardly. You were better off being marked as a traitor than a suicider. Hence why the White Fang was so infamous.

"However, after Iruka-sensei and Shikamaru talked to me, I felt better. His death, though still painful, had felt less intense and stabbing. After that, it took a long time before it felt like I could breathe again, but it came."

Naruto looked back at his son, "I won't pretend to understand the dynamics of your's and Mihara, since I am not you. But I can understand what it is like to lose someone so close to your heart. And you, my son, I—"

Naruto faltered momentarily at the words he was going to say, "—I would never want to hurt you that way. And—And I'm sorry that Mihara had to die."

Boruto recognized the shame in his father's eyes. The Savior of the World was apologizing to the World's Most Rotten Son. Boruto wanted to smack himself for making his father feel this way.

"You're an idiot," Boruto muttered.

Well, so much for making his dad feel better.

"You're the fucking hokage. You choose the best ninja for each mission, so that the probability of survival is maximized. And when Mihara—" Boruto felt the pain in his chest, "—died, that only means any one else would have had a zero percent chance of survival. Mihara died as an honored Konohagakure shinōbi. You were doing your job. Don't be sorry for — ACK!"

Naruto had suddenly grabbed Boruto and began vigorously rubbing his head.

"Bolt!" Naruto cried with tears in his eyes, "When did you become so wise? Your father is becoming so old!"

Immediately, Naruto found a new bump on his head.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? YOU ARE RUINING A FATHER-SON MOMENT, YOU STUPID OLD MAN!"

Naruto began wailing and Boruto merely rolled his eyes at their relationship. No matter how old his father is, he can act like a child. Sighing, Boruto wondered briefly how on earth did his beautiful mother fall for such a moron.

"Bolt."

Boruto turned at the serious tone his father addressed him with.

"I meant to talk to you about this Friday, but an opportunity has arise."

Friday? Boruto tried to recall what his father said about friday. Right. A mission briefing.

"I know it is early, but Mihara's spot must be filled," his father said as he motioned Boruto to follow in his steps. "We must begin training a new recruit as soon as possible."

Boruto felt a little angry at the thought of Mihara's spot being taken too soon, but also understood the gravity of the situation. With all the attacks on border towns in Fire, it was quite possible the entire Elite team would be employed to investigate whoever that is stupid enough to mess with Konoha.

"Have you thought of a candidate?" Bolt questioned his father.

At this point, they were reentering civilization and the civilians began greeting the honored family.

"Yes, we're actually on our way to Ichiraku to intercept with the candidate so you can meet. Initially, I recommended Inojin. However, he respectfully declined."

Excluding the academy days, Boruto could recall a handful of times he had teamed up with him where Inojin displayed an incredible amount of skill in interrogation and ink ninpōu. However, he was not surprised Inojin had declined the offer. Inojin is a very practical man, one that understood the survival training percentages of the Elite.

"So, I have decided on Sarada—"

Boruto easily shivered at the name.

To say they were sworn enemies was to put their relationship with one another lightly. Boruto can vividly recall the roundhouse kicked that graced his face when he had made fun of her glasses.

Idly, Boruto rubbed the spot as he wince at the memory. His young self had not understood what 'word filtering' meant.

However, even with the separation between the two, Sarada Uchiha was very well one of the favorite piece of gossip among the villagers and his teammates. Though Sasuke and Sakura had made their own legends with the feats they have accomplished, Sarada became famous on her own with just as many feats to own up to her parents. This, of course, included being the only person that has ever made Boruto cry.

And so even though they necessarily have not _talked_ to each other in years, Boruto was more than aware of who she was.

"—and I want you to train her."

Wait.

"_What_?" Boruto swiveled to face his father at the thought of something so—so—_so incredulous_. "Are you crazy? We'll kill each other!"

Naruto frowned at his son, "When you last worked together, you were mere children. You are now both adult. I expect that you will be professional about this."

Immediately, his father's face flashed a smile at a familiar shop keeper, who initiated the greeting, before reverting back to seriousness. Boruto knew that what his father was saying was true, but he could not help but felt weary of the idea. He was the second newest member before Takeuchi and has never taught anyone in his life before. To add his childhood enemy in to the mix was not something he was keen to try.

"Besides," Naruto gave his son a wink, "I hear she's quite a sight. Maybe you'll finally get yourself a girlfriend!"

Boruto merely slid his hand down his face in response.

* * *

><p>Sarada could not contain her excitement.<p>

She, a newly promoted jōnin, recruited to the Elite? It made her swell with all sorts of pride. And though her excitement ran high, Sarada was also practical enough to understand the risk of accepting the invitation.

She was not an Elitest yet. She was just an Elite _trainee_.

But that alone had her giggling.

"Do you realize how scary you look when you do that?"

Sarada shot Isamu a look of annoyance.

"Seriously," he repeated as his canine partner, Baku, sniffed the wreckage. "You're mashing up boulders and chucking trees to all the way to Suna while releasing high pitch squeals. Makes me wonder how sane you are."

"You're so funny," Sarada retorted as she threw the branch she had in her hand at her teammate. Instead of dodging, Baku ran to catch it and brought it back to Sarada, as if they were playing an oversized version of fetch. Sarada began rubbing behind Baku's ears absentmindedly.

"Why did you call me out here today?" Isamu asked as he plopped himself beside Baku.

"Just to hang out, I guess," Sarada replied. The truth was, she was leaving in a few hours to meet with her handler. She had already said goodbye to Jinjin that morning and wanted to do the same for Isamu. She just could not bring herself to mention it just yet.

Isamu, being her long time teammate, had not believed her lie as to where she will be during the next few months but did not continue pressing the matter. All shinōbis had their secrets.

So, instead, he decided to sprawl his body, purposely to knock his teammate to the ground, and began chattering about his day. Sarada, used to Isamu's constant jabber, half-listened and began watching the clouds. A hobby, at the suggestion from Shikamaru, she picked up.

"I accepted an apprenticeship with ANBU," Sarada stated suddenly before Isamu finished his tale.

"Wait, seriously?" Isamu turned his head to watch Sarada's face. Unable to face him, she began to slowly nod. Isamu immediately frowned.

"How long?" he asked.

"Three months."

"You just got back!" Isamu bursted as he jolted up and stared accusingly at Sarada. Slowly, Sarada's eyes made contact with his own and saw the anger dissipate. She had not want to leave so soon either.

"I know."

Isamu slowly sank back to his knees and Baku came trotting by nuzzling his neck. Before Sarada knew it, he reached out and grabbed her hand.

"When?"

"Soon." _In a few hours._

Isamu tightened his grip. Sarada's hand had started to hurt, but she ignored the feeling in favor of watching her teammate's reaction. She and Isamu had held hands a number of times; be it infiltration missions where they played their parts, in fact they even had to kiss a few times, or when he had to drag her to her feet after training to exhaustion. But never had he grabbed her when it was unnecessary. And so this was certainly odd experience for her.

"Sarada."

Sarada tensed at her teammate's intonation. Sarada has always been one to read voices. The amount of fervor he had said her name was the same way her father says her mother's name. And all too quickly, she knew where the conversation was headed.

Sarada stood up and dusted herself off, effectively making Isamu release his hold on her.

"I have to go," Sarada gave a sad smile, "I leave in an hour. I'll see you when I get back, okay?"

And without waiting for his response, she disappeared with a swirl of wind.

* * *

><p>Sarada was incredibly stacked.<p>

Boruto nearly spilled his coffee over his lap as he read her IQ. It almost rivaled Shikamaru-ōjji. And if that was not incredible enough, she had became a certified field medic-nin before she was a genin and was Mirai-sensei's direct successor, making her a phenomenal genjutsu specialist.

Boruto continued perusing through her file until he caught on to an interesting detail. Her mankegōu sharingan.

In a freak accident, while returning home after a two-man squad mission with her sensei, an unaffiliated shinōbi had ambushed them. As the fight ensued, Sarada had used chidori to finish her attack. However, as she made contact, her sensei had leap behind the enemy and was impaled as well. She had done so to keep the enemy shinōbi from stabbing Sarada with the kunai hidden behind his back. Sarada was sixteen years old.

_Sweet Kami_, Boruto cringed, _she was a walking tragedy_.

Leaning back, Boruto absentmindedly rubbed the blonde stubble on his chin. How to come up with a training regime. How to, how to, how to..

"Ugh," Boruto vigorously rubbed his head, "I don't know how to be a handler!"

"Hey."

In an incredibly girlish squeal, Boruto fell off his chair at the newcomer's voice. Takeuchi rolled his eyes. Seriously? This guy was his senior?

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Boruto sputtered as he regathered his papers.

"We're shinōbi, Bolt. It's what we do," Takeuchi replied deadpanned.

Boruto merely turned a shade of pink and started stuffing the papers into a folder.

"I hear you're taking on a subordinate," Takeuchi commented offhandedly. "Neverminding you screaming about not knowing how to be a handler, Hokage-sama told me first. But he won't tell me who."

"Well, it's sort of classified until the person is officially instated into the squad."

"If I know Hokage-sama, it's Inojin."

Inwardly, Boruto smirked. He was so close, but no cigar.

"We'll see," he said offhandedly.

"It's going to be a train wreck!" Takeuchi mocked. Boruto promptly threw a book at his head. Unfortunately, shinōbis are graceful creatures, and Takeuchi passively caught it.

"Anyways, I got to go. I'm meeting up with Chiharu to see if she can help out," Boruto said as he started for the windows.

Takeuchi frowned, "I thought we were suppose to go over the plans for the scouting mission."

"Can't. I'm meeting with my trainee in a couple of hours and I need advice," Boruto said before his smile curled into a smirk. "Besides, aren't you suppose to be accompanying the Fire Daimyo's granddaughters?"

Takeuchi braced his hands against the sides of the window and aimed a kick at Boruto's back to vault him out. Boruto merely laughed as he clanked on the nearest rooftop and continued on his merry way.

Scowling, the black haired shinōbi trudged to his impending torture as a shopping bag hanger.

* * *

><p>Sarada was a bit flustered if she was to be honest with herself. However, her reputation as a cool and collected spit-fire was soon to be shot to hell if she did not get her act together before her handler was suppose to come. She has to focus one hundred percent on this or else she wouldn't be able to make it. And if she didn't make it, it would shame her father.<p>

Sarada would have to be blind if she did not know half the looks she got were vengeful. And she would also be deaf if she did not hear the nasty things they say about her father too. She knew very well of her father's past. He had not wanted her to make the same mistakes as he had.

_I was lost_, he would say. _Lost without a clue of what I was suppose to do._

And though she had worked twice as hard, she can still feel the stares burning into her father's back. The hatred, the anger—

"Whoa, what's with the face?"

Sarada smoothed her face to a look of indifference as she regarded the new presence on training ground thirty-four. Boruto stood in front of her with an easy going smile and his right hand massaging his neck, as if there was a kink in it.

"Nothing," Sarada replied smoothly, offering a polite smile. "What are you doing here, Boruto?"

"Well, I just left thirty-three and I was passing by when I saw you. Just thought to see what you're up to," Boruto admitted. Well, technically he had just left Shikadai's house, but he had to cross through training ground thirty-three from the Nara Forest to get to thirty-four.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for my captain to come. We're suppose to map out our route for this upcoming mission," Sarada answered.

Boruto inwardly smile at the lie. What a practical explanation. It would explain her three-month absence and no one could ask who her partner was because protocol dictates the ANBU captain of any mission to be withheld from anyone but the squad and hokage.

"Ah, what time was he or she suppose to meet up with you?"

"Not for another half hour."

_Great_, Boruto thought, _I can work with this_.

"Well, then would you care for a spar?"

Sarada turned the offer around in her head. Her trainer was not suppose to show up for another hour. And she had planned on getting some of her frustration out via training before she was going to leave. Training with someone is always better than training by yourself. Besides, she hasn't fought against Boruto in years.

"Sure," Sarada smiled. "Rules?"

Boruto merely threw some hand signs and scribbled with something down on the ground.

Sarada narrowed her eyes as she recognized the techique. _He can use fūinjutsu. Dangerous. You never know what's in a seal._

A circle glowed about one hundred meters around them.

Boruto straightened up, "There are no rules except to knock the other person out of the ring. Sounds good?"

Sarada smiled, "Sounds great." And then smashed her fist down to the ground, erupting the ground all around them.

Boruto nonchalantly backflipped onto a rising pile of dirt and mockingly smiled down at the Uchiha, "Is that all you can do?"

Sarada, completely unsurprised that the hokage's son was able to evade her starting attack so easily, merely started on her next attack.

"Katōn: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!*"

Boruto had already known she was a fire and lightning nature. And so he was prepared to counter the signature Uchiha clan technique.

"Suitōn: Hahonryū no Jutsu.**"

Immediately, Boruto began rapidly firing at the growing fireball Sarada emitted from her mouth. And though her gōkakyu technique was pumped with a decent amount of chakra, water will always beat out fire if used correctly.

Air grows moist and a thick fog falls on the training ground; so thick, that Sarada was unable to see the afternoon sun. She activated her third-level sharingan. Apprehension builds inside her as she concentrates on any sudden movements.

Right? Nothing.

Left? Bare.

Back? Nada.

Front? Zilch.

Up? Nope.

So that left one choice, he was below. But before she could counter, Boruto appeared out of thin air to her right, aiming a kick to ribs. Boruto, seasoned to be quick as he was, honestly felt he could have been faster. Sarada, seasoned not be as fast as goddamn light, only managed to awkwardly threw her hands up and neutralized the kick somewhat. She felt her ribs fracture.

Rolling to a crouch, Sarada switches to Mangekyō. Immediately, her arms braced her face as Boruto's forearm makes contact. Sarada directed her chakra to where Boruto made contact before he fractured her ulna too.

And soon, the fight develops to a strict taijutsu spar.

Boruto was fast. Even with her mangekyō, she can see Boruto move, but her body was too slow to counter. This eventually left her feeling very sore and frustrated until she began throwing in a couple of more katōns and genjutsu. And despite the revival of ninjutsu in the spar, Boruto strictly stuck to taijutsu, countering every one of her techniques.

And with the handicap he placed on himself, he was still beating her ass.

When Sarada forgot the objective in mind, Boruto merely off balanced her with a poke and she tripped out of the blue ring, signaling Boruto's win. Sarada wanted to scream and hit something. Preferably Boruto's face.

But knowing that she couldn't, she settled for stomping on his feet.

"What the fuck was that for!" Boruto cried out in pain as he hopped around on one foot.

Sarada simply sniffed and began healing her own wounds. The hokage's son can walk to the hospital with his broken wrist, dislocated shoulder, second degree burns, and now crushed foot on his own.

"You need to go. My captain should be coming any minute now," Sarada said tartly.

"I can't," Boruto gritted his teeth as he examined his foot.

"And why not."

"Because _I'm_ your handler for the next three months. And this _spar_ was your assessment."

Boruto then straightened up with a brilliant smile and Sarada simply threw all her lady-like manners out the window.

"Oh, _fuck no_."

* * *

><p>*<strong>Katōn: Gōkakyū no Jutsu<strong> means Fire Release: The Great Fireball Technique.  
>It's traditional fireball technique that all Uchihas learn in their youth. The same one that Sasuke uses throughout the series.<p>

****Suitōn: Hahonryū no Jutsu** means Water Release: Tearing Torrent.  
>Yamato used this technique in shippuden where you swirl water in your hand and fire them away.<p>

A/N: I try to keep this close to the Naruto-verse as possible. So techniques, geographical locations, and nature affinities, etc. coincide with the information you find on Narutopedia. If I can anything wrong, don't be afraid to message me and tell me otherwise (except for Sarada's eyes, I want them to be green just so there's a little Sakura in her. In this story, she was born with dark, dark green eyes and they lightened as she grew up).

Happy January!


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